Global Courant
New data shows that the gender roles commonly associated with hunting and gathering practices may be imprecise.
These findingspublished in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS ONE, reveal that 79 percent of females in foraging societies around the world are hunters, contrary to the common perception that males hunt animals exclusively while females gather plants for food.
“Evidence from around the world shows that women participate in subsistence hunting in most cultures,” the study authors write.
To find out whether commonly assumed gender roles hold up, the Seattle Pacific University team of researchers looked at data from the past century from 63 foraging societies around the world, including the Americas, Africa, Australia, Asia and Oceania.
The data they examined for the study consisted of reports on what, when, and how hunting took place in each cultural group.
From the information available, it was clear that women played an important role in the hunt — 79 percent of the women — regardless of whether they were mothers or not.
The researchers also looked at whether the women hunted intentionally or opportunistically, finding that 70 percent of the hunts were intentional and that they targeted game of various sizes, but mostly larger game.
Meanwhile, women were found to be 100 percent involved in hunting practices in societies where hunting is considered the main subsistence activity.
Apart from this, it was also discovered that these women are quite invested in hunting. In fact, they were found to be actively teaching hunting practices and techniques in their societies, using more of a variety of weapons and strategies than men.
A previous study found that some women from different societies were found buried next to big game hunting toolssuggesting that these women hunted big game just like the men.
“These data suggest that females are not only preparing to hunt and actively pursue game, but also that they are adept at the practice,” the study authors write. “This is supported both by the existence of a specialized toolkit, and by different strategies compared to their male counterparts, possibly related to different training regimens, as well as different cultural norms around hunting, processing and eating meat.”
This study is important for future work, according to the researchers, who say the gender stereotypes of men as hunters and women as gatherers have influenced previous studies of archeology and a reluctance to examine tools believed to be used by women as legitimate hunting weapons .
